Tursiops truncatus, commonly known as the common bottlenose dolphin or the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, is the most well-known species from the family Delphinidae. Common bottlenose dolphins are the most familiar dolphins due to the exposure they receive in captivity in marine parks and dolphinaria. T. truncatus is the largest species of the beaked dolphins and they inhabit temperate and tropical oceans throughout the world, and are absent only from polar waters. All bottlenose dolphins were previously known as T. truncatus, the dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide. Considerable genetic variation has been described among members of this species, the common bottlenose dolphin is grey in color and may be between 2 and 4 m long, and weighs between 150 and 650 kg. Males are generally larger and heavier than females, in most parts of the world, the adults length is between 2.5 and 3.5 m with weight ranging between 200 and 500 kg. Newborn calves are between 0.8 and 1.4 m long and weigh between 15 and 30 kg and they can live as long as 40–50 years. Sexual maturity varies by population, and ranges from 5–14 years of age, dolphins have a short and well-defined snout that looks like an old-fashioned gin bottle, which is the source for their common name. Like all whales and dolphins, though, the snout is not a functional nose and their necks are more flexible than other dolphins due to five of their seven vertebrae not being fused together as is seen in other dolphin species. Their diets consist mainly of eels, squid, shrimp and wide variety of fishes and they do not chew their food, instead swallowing it whole. Dolphin groups often work as a team to harvest schools of fish, dolphins search for prey primarily using echolocation, which is a form of sonar. They emit clicking sounds and listen for the return echoes to determine the location and shape of nearby items and their heads contain an oily substance that both acts as an acoustic lens and protects the brain case. Tursiops truncatus can be found in the temperate, subtropical and tropical oceans worldwide, some bottlenose populations live closer to the shore and others live further out to sea. Generally, offshore populations are larger, darker, and have proportionally shorter fins, offshore populations can migrate up to 4,200 km in a season, but inshore populations tend to move less. However, some populations make long migrations in response to El Niño events. Tursiops truncatus has a bigger brain than humans, numerous investigations of bottlenose dolphin intelligence include tests of mimicry, use of artificial language, object categorization, and self-recognition. This intelligence has driven interaction with humans. Common bottlenose dolphins are popular in aquarium shows and television such as Flipper
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